8 Steps On How To Grow The Best Red Banana Plant

Unlike its common yellow cousin, red bananas are also a wonderful type of fruit to consume. With a distinctive reddish hue outside of its peel, this particular banana is grown in Africa, Asia, and South America, but enjoyed by many people throughout the world.

That being said, perhaps you would like to try your hand out at plantin﻿g and growing a red banana tree, as means of yielding those delicious, colorful fruits for your home. We are here to help! Learn more in this article about the red banana plant, with a step-by-step instruction on how to go about producing them. Soon enough, you will have plenty of red bananas to eat!

Things You Will Need For This Tutorial

Considering that it is a large plant-herb, red banana trees require a substantial amount of care and effort in order to have a successful harvest. To get started, here are the items you will need to begin planting your tree:

1. Raised garden bed. Having this factor is important for creating a good drainage system, so that the red banana tree can grow nicely and efficiently.

2. A banana sucker.This is what you will need to obtain in order to get started; essentially, a banana sucker is the small shoot from the base of the fruit. It also contains the corm, which is where the sucker itself grows from

When determining if the banana sucker is good or not, make sure that it has a thin, pointy shape to its leaves, for that shows that it is adequately healthy with good nutrients. Large, round leaves, on the other hand, are best to be avoided.

Here is a video more about banana suckers:

3. Shovel. This will be used to dig the earth for planting the red banana tree. For this occasion, it helps to go with a large shovel, considering that it will be a large plant when it reaches maturity.

4. Soil. Choosing type of soil to be suitable for tree. Loose, rich soil is the way to go for planting this particular fruit tree. Avoid using normal potting soil, however, and instead invest in ones with a slightly acidic quality to it, between pH 5 and 7.

5. Fertilizer. Typically, f﻿ert﻿ilizers consist of a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium balance (N-P-K for short) with varying ratios depending on the plant’s needs. For red bananas, they are just like regular bananas in that they need an overwhelming amount of potassium for growth, so it is best to get fertilizer with that sort of ratio.

6. Water. Just like any plant or crop out there, red bananas need water as means of growing. However, just a bit of water will do from time to time, for overwatering can be a problem.

7. Wire and Rope. Since banana trees, in general, tend to grow tall and heavy, you will need to make sure that it does not topple over while its growing. Wires and ropes do the trick, along with bamboo.

Step-by-Step Tutorial For Planting Red Bananas

Although the planting process can be time-consuming, as well as the fact that it can take for a year for the plant to begin yielding fruit, the end results will be worth it. Here is how you get started:

1

Make ﻿S﻿ure ﻿Y﻿our ﻿E﻿nvironment Is ﻿S﻿uitable For ﻿P﻿lanting

Bananas, let alone red ones, thrive especially in hot, humid weather, with temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and a humidity of 50 percent or more. More importantly, however, is that the environment remains consistent, since they can take up to a year to yield fruit.

Make sure that you also find a place with lots of sunlight, since banana trees thrive with long hours in the sun. In addition, choose a good site for a drainage system, hence why an elevated garden bed will come in handy.

Finally, give the red banana tree plenty of space to grow. If necessary, dedicate your entire backyard to growing this plant, and grow other crops indoors or out on the curb. It requires a lot of your attention, so it is best to place it in an easily-accessible area to get to when needed.

You can refer to this video:

2

Trim The Banana Sucker

Using some gardening scissors, trim off 1 to 2 inches off of the banana sucker, so as to prevent it from getting diseases.

3

Dig A Hole

Considering that you are starting with a small, banana sucker, you will not need to dig a large hole to plant it. By using a shovel, simply make a 1x1-foot hole for it.

4

Add Soil And Plant

Place the slightly-acidic soil into the hole, then plant your sucker into it. Make sure that the sucker is planted upright and firmly pack the soil in to keep it in place.

5

Fertilize And Water

When it comes to caring for the red banana plant, fertilize on a regular basis (about each month), feeding it with potassium-rich elements and even consider adding compost and manure to help boost its nutrients for an effective growth. Another thing to consider is adding mulch, which gives back nutrients to the soil after trimming the plant.

Water around the plant, making sure not to overwater it, but only do so when you notice the soil to be dry.

Depending on how cold the weather is, you might sometimes only need to water the plant one to two times a week. Overwatering can cause damages to the roots, which affects its development, so it is better to water less than more.

This is a video more about fertilizers for banana:

6

Trim And Prevent Pests

Like with any other plant out there, red banana trees are also susceptible to weeds and dead leaves. Trim them off whenever you see them about to sprout. Additionally, it is very important to notice for any signs of pest diseases and take measures to get rid of them.

It is a matter or either trying out pesticides (which can be risky for the plant) or, more simply, uproot them and place them somewhere else.

7

De-sucker The Plant

When your red banana plant reaches maturity, it will yield several suckers, of which you will need to remove for better growth and health. Simply cut off the suckers and the remaining ones (usually no more than two) will be the “followers” of the main plant by taking over in the case if it were to die.

This is a video more about maitaining a Banana Plant:

8

Support The Plant

As it grows, red banana plants will start to get top-heavy from the fruit it is growing. To prevent it from toppling over, you can either use the wire-and-rope method, or the bamboo method.

For the former, take a plastic bottle and cut off the bottom of it. Thread the wire through the bottle and bend it. Prop it against the red banana plant stem and tie the wire around it to keep it stable.

For the latter, take a bamboo stem and cut it into a “Y” shape. Prop the groove of it against the banana stem and plant the other side firmly in the ground.

For a step-by-step tutorial for doing so, check it out here:

Conclusion

Overall, red banana trees are a wonderful plant to consider growing, since it adds that extra character to your garden. While it will take time for it to grow, it will yield amazing fruit at the end of it all. Enjoy your gardening!

Daisy Taylor

Daisy Taylor is a blogger at TheOneSunflower.com. I would try my hand at gardening. After many years of gardening at home. I have decided to share my passion with the world by starting this blog. I hope to give advice on all matters related to home gardening ..... Read more about Me here.

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